IPEd
Institute of Professional Editors
Limited
www.iped-editors.org
A not-for-profit public company limited by guarantee
To advance the profession of editing
2. Incorporated in January
2008
 Getting to incorporation involved many years work by
many editors from all the Australian societies of editors,
initially through a Council of Australian Societies of
Editors.
 A proposal to create a national accreditation scheme
was voted on by the members of all the societies of
editors and, as was required, the ‘Yes’ vote was in the
majority in all societies. This led to the establishment of
IPEd.
3. The members of IPEd
 The members of IPEd are the seven societies of
editors: Canberra (169), New South Wales (355),
Queensland (268), South Australia (126), Tasmania
(47), Victoria (668), Western Australia (117). At 42
years, Victoria is the oldest society, and Queensland
(13 years) the youngest. All the others are over 20
years old.
 The individual members of each society (numbers as at
31 May are given in brackets above) are NOT
members of IPEd.
4. Governance
 IPEd is governed by a council comprising one nominee
from each of the seven members. All are volunteers.
Councillors are directors of the company and subject to
the statutes of the Corporations Law.
 The sole paid member of the management team is the
company secretary, who occupies a part-time position.
5. Objectives
 The objectives of IPEd are given in its Constitution,
accessible on the website.
 They cover all things aiming to promote the value of
professional editing in publishing, communication and
wider circles, and advance the interests of individual
editors and the editing profession.
 The overriding initial aim was to develop and
implement a national accreditation scheme for
editors, as a first step in raising the profile, repute and
income potential of professional editors.
6. Achievements (I)
 In just over five years, IPEd has:
 finalised and implemented a peer-developed, standardsbased national accreditation scheme for editors,
managed by a dedicated Accreditation Board
 held accreditation exams in 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2012 –
there are now more than 260 IPEd-accredited editors
Australia-wide
 completed a substantial revision of the Australian Standards
for Editing Practice to align the standards with contemporary
usage and procedures
7. Achievements (II)
 submitted a detailed, fully costed expression of interest
to produce a seventh edition of the Australian
Government’s Style Manual for Authors, Editors and
Printers
 developed in collaboration with the university
committee of Deans and Directors of Graduate Studies,
ethical guidelines for the editing of research theses by
professional editors
 promoted and supported highly successful national
conferences in 2009 (Adelaide), 2011 (Sydney) and
Perth (2013) – the next will be in Canberra in 2015
8. Achievements (III)
 produced and freely distributed for the use of individual
members Editing: Words’ best practice, a flyer promoting
editors and editing – under covering letter, some 1,500
copies of the flyer were also mailed to managers in
government, business and publishing in August 2012
 on behalf of the editing profession, made submissions to
enquiries by the Book Industry Strategy Group (potential
effects of digital technologies) and the Copyright Agency
Limited (impact of e-books)
 in concert with other members of the publishing industry,
made a successful submission to the Productivity
Commission that the Parallel Import Restrictions for books
should not be repealed
9. Achievements (IV)
 negotiated with Aon Risk Management Services to extend its
discounted rate for professional indemnity insurance to full
members of all IPEd’s member societies
 co-sponsored and judged entries for the annual Barbara
Ramsden Award for excellence in editing, and supported the
Beatrice Davis Editorial Fellowship managed by the
Australian Publishers Association
 conducted a national survey of the views and needs of
editors, to which there were 345 responses – the results
were reported to the 2011 national conference and are on
the IPEd website
10. Achievements (V)
 introduced an IPEd Prize and an Occasional Paper
series
 forged links with sister societies in Canada, South
Africa and the UK
 produced and distributed annual reports and regular
bulletins to inform all stakeholders of its activities
 conducted a deep and wide review of its achievements
and prospects.
11. Funding
 IPEd is funded by a per capita contribution from the
societies. This is currently $25 per member, which
gives IPEd an annual operating fund for 2013–14 of
about $43,750. A significant slice of this will go to the
part-time secretary’s remuneration.
 For the accreditation exams, the aim is to cover the
costs of each exam from the candidate registration
fees. Significant costs include Accreditation Board
teleconferencing time, honoraria for members of the
exam development and marking teams, printing and
postage, and hire of exam venues.
12. Assessment
 In its short life and with lean financial resources for a
national professional association, IPEd has,
nevertheless, thanks to the insight and dedication of
voluntary workers, made great progress under its
current structure.
 It is difficult to envisage that IPEd, given the same level
of resources, could have made greater progress under
some other structure.
 Increased funding and appointment of additional paid,
specialist part-time staff to handle specific tasks is
essential to further progress being made.
13. Future tasks
 The epicentre of IPEd endeavours and activities is the
accreditation scheme. Its future must be secured for
IPEd to survive.
 This will require among other things:
ongoing research and wide consultation to ensure that the scheme
remains in tune with contemporary developments
a dynamic advocacy/promotion and marketing campaign to let the
wide world know what editors do, and extend interest and participation in
the scheme
getting more society members to take steps to become AEs – so far, only
about 20% of members have done so.
 The first two of these tasks will exceed the capacity of
part-time volunteers.
Good night and good luck